


Sink or Swim

by bouquets



Category: Sonic Boom (Cartoon), Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: AU that diverts back into canon, F/M, MerMay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-07
Updated: 2018-05-07
Packaged: 2019-05-03 16:13:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14572719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bouquets/pseuds/bouquets
Summary: “You can’t swim.”“No.”“But you have a beachfront property.”Sonic befriends a mermaid Amy Rose. Boom!AU because I can.





	Sink or Swim

It was warm, suddenly. Sonic’s head pounded. The wet sand clung to his quills and stuck to his soaked fur. He jolted up suddenly with a wild burst of energy. The fact he was alive and relatively dry warranted a sigh of relief.

“You’re awake!”

“Wha?” he turned towards the voice behind him, only to see a fish... girl? From the torso up, she could’ve passed as a hedgehog, but the lack of legs was a different story.

“You can’t swim,” she giggled, making his heart skip a beat. That laugh sure was something else. Sonic felt his face burn, looking down at his savior, who flicked her tail aimlessly.

“No.” Sonic crossed his arms defensively. “I don’t need to know how.”

“But you have a beachfront property,” she argued.

“I live in a shack.” _So much for making a good impression_. All he’d established is that he can’t swim nor afford to move.

“And don’t have a door.” She stuck out her tongue.

“Wait, how do you know where I live?” Sonic realized he had never seen a creature like her before.

“You don’t have a door,” she repeated, slightly slower.

“Fair.”

“My name is Amy Rose, by the way.” She offered a hand, which Sonic accepted politely.

“I’m Sonic.”

“Sonic?” she cocked an eyebrow. _That’s not a name you hear every day_ , she thought.

“As in… Sonic speed, I guess. I’m pretty fast.”

“Yeah, _real_ fast at nearly drowning.”

 _“_ Alright, now you’re just being rude,” Sonic mumbled, brushing her hand away. Her face went from smug to genuinely concerned.

“It-it was my fault!” Amy said, determined and a little desperate. “I didn’t detonate the mines this morning.”

“Detonate… the mines?” Sonic asked. He had a lot of questions for this girl.

“There’s a weird guy who throws all these machines and robots into the ocean,” she explained. Sonic could tell by her face she was flustered. “Sometimes he’ll leave explosives that can just drift away and hurt innocent people, so I try to do my part.”

“Eggman?”

“Yeah, him,” Amy nodded, relieved he was familiar with what she was talking about.

“I fight him like, every week,” Sonic said calmly. “On land, I can kick his and his robots’ butts any day.” Something about his confidence was assuring.

“Well, I messed up. That’s why the first thing you woke up to was an explosion,” she admitted. “It threw you into the ocean and you sunk like a rock.”

“And you saved me,” Sonic said, completing the story. “Thanks, by the way.”

“I wasn’t about to let a cute hedgehog sink to the bottom of the ocean!” she pouted.

“You think I’m cute?”

Amy nodded, not even slightly embarrassed. “But, enough of that,” she shrugged. “Do you need me to swim you home?”

Sonic scoffed. “Don’t worry about me. I told you I’m fast, didn’t I?” He shielded his eyes from the sun with a hand, scanning the horizon. “My place isn’t too far from here either,” he noted, familiar with where he was.

“Do you mind if I follow along?” she asked. “I want to make sure you’re okay after a blow like that.” Amy couldn’t bring herself to say she didn’t feel like rescuing him again.

“You don’t have a family or school of fish to protect or something?” he replied, genuinely confused. She shook her head, somewhat sadly.

Sonic, who was probably milliseconds away from speeding off, hesitated. “Well, I don’t want to leave you behind…” he started to explain. “Do you need to stay in the water to survive?”

“No... I just don’t… have legs.” Amy squeaked as he scooped her up in his arms effortlessly.

“Hold on _tight_ , then,” he urged, stressing how serious he was. Amy was skeptical, convinced he was bluffing. That is, until he reared up for a running start and showed no signs of slowing down. The wind whipped through her quills violently as he ran across the water. She looked up in absolute shock, taken aback by the cocky grin on his face. Sonic clutched even tighter as he skid to a halt, making sure not to drop her.

“Welcome to my humble abode!” Sonic said proudly.

“T-thanks,” Amy replied, more than a little rattled. He gingerly placed her on the hammock.

“Uh, I didn’t really have anything planned after this.” _Wait. I just brought this random fish girl into my home. ... What compelled me to do that?_ Oddly, something felt right about the situation.

She smiled, excited. “Tell me about yourself, Sonic.”

* * *

“Wait, quiz me,” Amy said. “I’m a good listener, I swear.”

“Alright, who’s that and that?” Sonic said. Amy was holding a framed photo of his teammates. He reached over her shoulder, pointing at the individual members.

“Tails,” Amy replied. “And that’s Knuckles.”

“Ding!”

“Honestly, it’s not too hard when their names describe what distinguish them.”

“Not much of a quiz, isn’t it?” Sonic chuckled. He turned to face her. “You haven’t said a single thing about yourself, you know.”

Amy shrugged.

“You’re not going to charm your way into my life and then steal my soul or something?”

“If I was supposed to do that, I would have by now,” she retorted.

“Maybe you’re building a false sense of security,” he said, egging her on. “You make your way to my heart and then bam! There goes my lifeblood. Just like how chili dogs might kill me with cholesterol.”

“You sound like Sticks.”

“You’ve talked to her?”

“I don’t get the chance to talk to many people,” Amy sighed. “Sticks is the only one that wasn’t immediately weirded out by me. I kinda consider her my best friend, but I don’t even know if she realizes I’m real or not.”

“I can kinda see that,” he said. “She’s probably say something like, ‘A fish-hedgehog lady showed up on the beach! We gotta get her on our side before she destroys us!’” Sonic shivered. It felt weird agreeing with Sticks’ paranoid ramblings.

“Spot on,” Amy giggled.

“I’m pretty sure you’re real,” Sonic pat her back reassuringly. “I bet you have cool stories about living in the water. I try to keep away from the ocean, so it’d all be new to me.”

“The thing is, I don’t remember,” Amy said sadly.

“What?”

“I know my name, and how to talk, fight, and swim,” Amy said.

“You know how to fight?”

“I use a hammer to blow up the mines before they hit the shore,” she explained. “It sounds inefficient, but the robots never stand a chance… Are you even listening?” She saw his eyes glaze over, obviously distracted by something.

Sonic had seen his fair share of rings, but he stared at the cuffs on her gloves. They shone brilliantly in the sun, and something about them felt… off. He pushed it to the back of his mind.

“Sorry, yeah. Hammers. Eggman robots,” he summarized. “Nothing else?”

She shook her head again. “I could teach you how to swim, if you want.”

Sonic balked. “Y-yeah, no, it’s fine. Don’t worry about me.”

“Are you afraid after almost drowning?” she asked, genuinely curious. “I’ll keep you safe, I promise.”

Sonic felt something was inherently backwards about the offer. He was the hero, right? He cleared his throat, refusing to make eye contact until the heat in his cheeks disappeared.

“Uh, why do you wear gloves?” he asked, trying to change the subject. “Don’t they bog you down when swimming?”

“I... woke up with them?” Amy wasn’t sure herself. “N-never really thought about it.” Her voice wavered as he brought her wrist closer to his face. Something enchanting about those rings drew him in. Amy gulped.

“Could I ask you a weird favor?”

“Sure,” Amy replied. Her voice was timid now.

“Can I take these off?” He wasn’t sure why he asked, but it’s not like he could change his mind now.

“Forward,” she said. “But alright, I guess.”

Sonic ignored the comment, training his eyes on the rings around her wrists. They reminded him of shackles. Holding one in each hand, he yanked towards himself. The gloves didn’t budge, however.

Amy hadn’t expected the force as she felt herself tugged forward, her lips crushing into his. They reeled back, both alarmed by the accidental kiss.

“What did you do that for?!” she shouted.

“I didn’t mean to, but…” Sonic took a deep breath. “Look down.”

Amy gasped sharply as she watched the scales disappear, revealing pink fur instead. Her mind began to spin as memories began to rush back in an onslaught. She clutched her head, trying to make sense of it all. After a moment, Amy jerked her head up, locking her eyes with him intensely.

“...So you're Sonic the Hedgehog?”

* * *

“I’m an archaeologist,” she said confidently.

“And a gymnast, of all things,” Sonic added.

“That’s a bonus.”

“I was researching a Ancient site,” Amy reasoned. “What exactly happened is fuzzy, but I do remember everyone telling me it was cursed.”

“And you went?”

“Like you wouldn’t.”

“I can speed my way out of anything.”

“I can _smash_ my way through anything.”

“So, what happened next?” Sonic asked, wanting to hear more about her escapade.

“I guess I unintentionally found the Oceanid Amulets,” she replied, holding up the cuffs. They had clattered to the ground after she regained her legs. “Legends say one ring grants ultimate power, but the other guarantees the destruction of all that you value.”

Sonic’s eyes widened at how quickly the stakes were raised.

“I actually came in with the hunch the original translators were exaggerating. The effects of magic amulets pretty much are always their title.”

“Oh.” He was a bit disappointed.

“These turned me into a mermaid, which is exactly what they intended to do. The thing is, I don’t remember intending to put one on at all.”

“So I broke the curse…?”

She bit her lip, unsure if she wanted to answer. “True love’s kiss.” Amy wrung her fingers together nervously.

Sonic blinked. A smile stretched across his face. “You said you can fight, right?”

“What, you want me to prove it?”

“No thank you.” Sonic threw his hands up defensively. “And you still don’t like Eggbreath right?”

Amy jeered at the obvious leading question. “Of course not.”

She leaned forward as he poked at something around his wrist, trying to decipher the inputs he was making.

“Hey guys?” Sonic said into the watch. “I think we have a new member of Team Sonic.”


End file.
